Twenty-five years ago (yes I’ve been in the business that long…ouch) IBM, Dell and HP were the major players in desktop/laptop hardware. Dell was the young upstart. They made a name for themselves by producing a high quality, customized product in less time than their competitors. IBM and HP were overtaken. All of the manufacturers were trying to outdo each others. When the dust settled, Dell stayed on top (with a brief loss of share to HP).
Today, the major players have changed a little bit. But if you’ll notice their ads, they are all competing on price. A computer is for the most part a commodity. The insides are very similar, but the external case has a different name stamped on it. There is very little differentiation between Dell, HP, Lenovo, Gateway (Acer) and the other players. Computer quality is about the same with each major vendor. Customer service is dependably mediocre (at least I have not heard any rave reviews in a while). Small businesses are the fastest growing segment, yet they have not figured out that they key to winning the entrepreneur is the experience they create for us, not their old brand image.
Ask anyone who has had a laptop stolen or otherwise destroyed and they’ll probably tell you they bought the replacement at a big box retailer because it would take too long to order what they really wanted from the manufacturer. No begging, pleading, calls to sales or letters to the CEO would cause the manufacturer to move any quicker on their order (14 to 30 days to receive a new one). The message “As an entrepreneur or small business (20 or fewer computers), you are not that important.” Unfortunately for us, our computers are our lifeline. They are as important to our business as they are in a large company. Since we are small, we don’t always have the option of stowing duplicate hardware for later use. So, we’re stuck.
I wonder if there is an up-and-coming manufacturer out there who will actually carve out their niche in the small business or entrepreneur segment…and treat us like we are as important as those business that buy a few hundred computers at a time. IF they do it right, word of mouth referrals could easily suck business away from the established manufacturers.
Leslie Knight is a small business consultant with over 20 years of experience in Information Technology management in Fortune 500 companies. She applies her experience in Corporate America saving them millions to smaller entrepreneurial enterprises. She is also the author of Navigating the I.T. Minefield: Straight Talk for the Small Enterprise.
Great insight Leslie! Truly, a unique opportunity indeed! It is worth nothing, however, even with their physical stores scattered around the US, Apple is not immune to this problem either. It often takes several days to get an appointment with a Genius, and if something needs to be replaced or fixed, plan on several more days without your computer…
Case in point, several months ago, I had to replace the HD on my Macbook Air. Although I pleaded with them to return my computer back to me ASAP, it still look them several days to install the new HD…
Needless to say, I ended up purchasing a netbook so that I could continue to run my business while my Macbook was at the doctor.
As a small business owner, nearly everything I do to run my business is via the Internet and my laptop (including my business telephone)…
Perhaps I should have taken a mini vacation instead, while without my laptop!! Hindsight is always 20/20!
One more problem (read opportunity) for the entrepreneurs to solve!
- Jeremiah
As an IT professional Id be thrilled to find a big box store that actually kept business PCs (ie Vista Business / Ultimate or XP Pro) on hand. If you look at Best Buy or the others, their all carrying Home editions only.
Nice blog, thanks and keep blogging =)